Article in the scientist by Kerry Grens on Zika virus on February, 19th 2016 The article elaborates on how the zika virus is transmitted amongst pregnant women and it gives an example who two women who have experienced zika virus while they were pregnant and their babies were treated with microcephaly (Kerry, 2016). The articles go ahead to explain how the virus can cross the placental barrier to infect the foetus in the womb. Apart from microcephaly, the article also elaborates how researchers are also trying to establish the relationship between zika virus and the Guilain-Barre syndrome especially in the countries that largely affected by zika virus (Kerry, 2016). Actually, the results turned positive since the link between the two is very strong. Mosquito larvicide has also been linked with the increase in the microcephaly in some countries such as Brazil. The zika virus that affects babies has been found to cause vision problems. Besides causing vision problems, the utero is infected by pathogenic infections hence causing mental illness. This, therefore, implies that areas affected by zika virus have high cases of autism and epilepsy (Kerry, 2016). Global warming and dengue virus are other factors that have been found to the causal factors for the zika virus (Kerry, 2016). Some research has found that dengue virus can make the effects of the zika virus worse through antibody dependent enhancement (Kerry, 2016). Global warming, on the other hand, accelerates the flames of diseases caused by a mosquito. It does this by increasing the speed of the life cycle of the mosquitos that carry these viruses hence assisting in their multiplication especially in countries such as the United States (Kerry, 2016).To prevent this zika virus, there is the need to control the damage brought about by mosquito by preventing its contact with the pregnant women. Additionally, global warming should also be reduced as it helps in the spread of zika virus (Kerry, 2016).
References
Kerry Grens. (2016). Zika Update | The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved from http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45390/title/Zika-Update/
